Detailed Political/Business/Policy Narrative Bio

Overview:

Gordon Hensley is an independent Washington, DC-based communications strategist, writer and content specialist with a diverse 30-year background spanning national GOP politics, Capitol Hill, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), corporate consulting, and healthcare-focused legislative advocacy. 

Originally from Brooklyn NY, Hensley has served as a communications director and speechwriter for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), a GOP Governor, 5 Capitol Hill lawmakers, and a variety of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial campaigns across the country. In addition to paid staff or consulting experience on 6 presidential campaigns, he’s worked on the ground in over a dozen states, including NY, TX, CA, NH, OR, LA, TN, MN and NJ.  

To detail his thoughts on politics and campaigns, Hensley has appeared twice at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and was a guest lecturer or panelist at UT-Austin, LSU-Baton Rouge, Rutgers Eagleton Institute (NJ), Saint Anselm College (NH), Pace University (NY), the National Press Club, and a variety of other DC and state capitol-based media forums.

1980s — Unconventional path to political campaign involvement

As a freshman at George Washington University in 1980, Hensley defied his parents and left school to intern at the Republican National Committee (RNC) research department, wait tables for cashflow, and pursue his goal of somehow finding a job on Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign. Through newly-made RNC contacts, he secured a $40/week “town chairman coordinator” job at the Manchester, NH Reagan headquarters — living in his girlfriend’s nearby college dorm to make ends meet. Despite the job title, the primary work involved crisscrossing the state delivering campaign paraphernalia to key supporters, but was a formative experience that set his professional future.

After returning to D.C. and GWU, Hensley left school again to work in an uphill 1984 Westchester County, NY open seat House race. His candidate — New Rochelle CPA Joseph DioGuardi — fortuitously prevailed by several thousand votes with help from the Reagan re-elect landslide. Hensley served as DioGuardi’s Capitol Hill press secretary and remained with the lawmaker through his successful ’86 re-elect challenge from former Democratic Rep. Bella Abzug. In ’87, Hensley left the Hill to return to Manchester, NH — serving as New England press secretary (NH, ME, MA) for ’88 GOP presidential candidate Pete du Pont, former Governor of Delaware. Following DuPont’s 4th place NH finish, Hensley served in ’88 as speechwriter for NJ GOP Senate candidate Pete Dawkins — his first job serving solely as speechwriter. In ’89, he returned to D.C. as communications director for NJ GOP Rep. Jim Courter.

1990s — Bigger races, more presidential politics, founded D.C. political consulting firm 

Ironically, Hensley’s biggest professional breakthrough came in the aftermath of his worst crash-and-burn campaign defeat: serving as press secretary for Texas oil magnate Clayton Williams — the 1990 TX GOP gubernatorial candidate defeated by Ann Richards in a nationally-watched spectacle. Hensley’s unexpected notoriety stemmed from his high-profile work managing on-the-record and on-camera damage control in the aftermath of Williams’ numerous “colorful” off-hand remarks. Once back in D.C. a surge in opportunities unfolded. After a brief RNC consulting stint, Hensley went to Louisiana in ’91 to serve as communications director and speechwriter for newly-minted, party-switching GOP Governor Buddy Roemer. 

Hensley then served as national state media director for President George H.W. Bush in ’92, and later as a communications consultant for NY GOP gubernatorial candidate George Pataki’s ’94 campaign against incumbent Mario Cuomo. From ’95-’97 he served as communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), chaired by Sen. Al D’Amato (R-NY). In ’96, while continuing his NRSC role, Hensley spent 3 months in Oregon to help elect Sen. Gordon Smith, and also consulted for KS Senator Bob Dole’s ’96 GOP primary and general election presidential campaign.

In 1997, Hensley founded GOP communications and speechwriting firm Strategic Media Inc (SMI). Clients of the Georgetown-based start-up included U.S. Sens. Al D’Amato (R-NY) and Paul Coverdell (R-GA), Gov. George Pataki (R-NY), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)/Vito Fossella for Congress (NY-13 special election), the NY and CA GOP state parties, Republican Leadership Council (RLC), and TX Gov. George W. Bush’s GOP presidential primary campaign (11/99 — 3/00). 

2000s — Transition to corporate consulting and health policy communications

By 2000, Hensley had worked on and off-year campaigns in 12 of the previous 14 years. Burned out from the  cumulative negativity and permanent pace of campaign work, he began shifting toward non-partisan healthcare advocacy work. PR firms Edelman and Mercury Public Affairs retained Hensley’s firm, SMI, for federal and state healthcare projects. The new issues focus became Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for long term and post-acute care providers. Two of SMI’s largest initial healthcare clients were the DC-based American Health Care Assn (AHCA) and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC). State clients included the PA Health Care Assn (PHCA), TX Health Care Assn (THCA), and LA Nursing Home Assn (LNHA).

In 2004, Hensley downsized SMI’s four-person staffing configuration to a ‘solopreneur’ Sub-S corporate structure. Instead of office staff, he began retaining off-site research, media production and other vendors — a more efficient, effective model he still retains today. During this transition from politics to healthcare advocacy, Hensley was unexpectedly asked to help reorganize and lead 2006 TN GOP Senate candidate Bob Corker’s communications effort after falling behind Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN). Having previously consulted for Corker during his unsuccessful ’94 GOP Senate primary bid — and staying in touch over the years — Hensley spent fall ’06 in Nashville as senior communications advisor while continuing to manage his health care portfolio.

Following Corker’s win as the GOP suffered widespread losses in the disastrous 2006 GOP election cycle, Hensley re-branded SMI as sm/c/p (strategic media, content and platforms) and moved his office operation from Georgetown to Alexandria, VA. The re-brand reflected insights he gained from the Corker race: the need to optimize alignment of messaging across new social media and digital platforms to cut through an increasingly cluttered information marketplace. In the healthcare space, Hensley also noticed the growing value of objective, data-driven studies funded by healthcare companies themselves — not just neutral media and academic third parties. This study format became an increasingly useful tool to advance clients’ Capitol Hill and regulatory policy narratives, and he began collaborating with several health policy/data firms to help write and market this ancillary advocacy content.

In ’08-’09, Hensley briefly returned to politics — but in post-election mode — spending 3 months in MN with GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and his legal team during a protracted and ultimately unsuccessful recount effort against Democratic Senator-elect, Al Franken. Around the same time, the City of New York engaged Hensley’s firm as lead copywriter for a multi-year initiative to promote international tourism to NYC — marking a new area of business focus. A longtime live music fan, Hensley was invited to join the Board of HeadCount in 2012 by then-executive director and co-founder, Andy Bernstein. The nonpartisan, NYC-based non-profit has registered nearly 1.7 million new voters at music festivals nationwide since its 2004 inception. Other board members include the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, live music entrepreneur Peter Shapiro, JamBase.com founder Andy Gadiel, and other music industry leaders committed to non-partisan voter engagement.

In 2015 sm/c/p collaborated with D.C.-based government relations and communications firms BGR Group, Schmidt Public Affairs, and King & Spalding to help found, launch and establish the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC) as a leading voice for long term care pharmacies (LTCP’s) in the crowded D.C. pharmaceutical advocacy space. Federal and state pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) regulation, FDA drug repackaging, “21st Century Cures” legislation and curbing opioid abuse were the primary focus. In addition to collaborating on policy and website content, Hensley served as lead writer for media and opinion commentary directed at key jurisdictional congressional committees: Senate Finance, HELP and Judiciary, and House Ways & Means, and Energy & Commerce.

That same year, Hensley also served as a primary collaborator on WI GOP Governor Scott Walker’s 2015 presidential campaign announcement speech and was subsequently retained to work on Walker’s health reform, labor reform and foreign policy rollout speeches delivered in Minneapolis, Las Vegas, and Charleston, respectively. In 2017, sm/c/p formed a strategic alliance with TN-based Bridge Public Affairs, founded by former senior aides to Sen. Bob Corker. In 2019, Hensley moved his business back into D.C., setting up shop at 801 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.   

2020s — HHS stint during Covid chaos, pursuing new healthcare consulting disciplines

As the Covid pandemic unfolded in 2020, Hensley accepted a unique 8 month opportunity to join the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a senior communications advisor. In addition to advisory purview at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Hensley also served as senior media counsel to Covid “testing czar” and Asst. Health Sec. Adm. Brett P. Giroir.

Hensley resumed sm/c/p business in 2021, serving as a communications strategist and writer for D.C., NYC and Austin-based public affairs, lobbying and research/data firms. His primary focus from 2022 through 2025 has been life sciences/biotech startups, private equity-directed healthcare innovation, federal cannabis banking reform, and FDA/Capitol Hill study of psychedelics to treat PTSD.